Friday, December 31, 2010

This post was inspired by Jenny Free Style's recent post reflecting on her year.

i contemplated writing a resolutions post, but thought it was a better idea to start off with feeling of accomplishment and reflection.

This year I (or in some cases We):Moved out of the apartment I'd had for 6 years, in with Mikey's parents and him.Said goodbye to my almost 5 year long employment (it was not my choice)Co-Hosted a Superbowl party for about 100 peopleSaid YES to his proposalCo-Hosted Daytona 500 party for 50Said Goodbye to My Grandpa-in-law to be.Turned 27

Started BloggingWon a Trip to Las Vegas to see Kenny Chesney, thanks to KUPLGot pregnantPlanned our budget wedding for 200+Said goodbye to my Uncle BabysitterFOUND OUT WE WERE PREGNANT!!!Completed construction on the Loft and moved inHosted 2nd Annual Aunts DayHosted Kyhara's 1st bday partyPut together our wedding staying under budget.Found out we are having a GIRL!GOT MARRIED!Hosted multiple UFC showings and football gamesHosted Halloween Party for 30Hosted Thanksgiving for 40Named our Daughter ElizabethCo-Hosted Christmas for 40 in-lawsHosted Christmas 30 in my familyOrganized and settled in multiple areas of our home.

I look forward to continuing with my blog and sharing my Loftee adventures throughout the new year.

my only resolution will be to continue living life fully with a positive attitude and enjoy every moment of it.

Monday, December 27, 2010

I've seen lots of wine glass charms for sale from everywhere from the Dollar Tree to The Container Store to various craft stores and K-Mart.

Although I loved the idea, I didn't think we needed them, because we rarely served wine or champagne and didn't even have wine glasses until our wedding gifts were opened.

Then, at Thanksgiving, 2 of my aunts raided my ribbon collection to tie different colored ribbon to their glasses to tell them apart, I decided I should consider getting (or making) some.

I came across this blog post showing off these gorgeous charms, and I was inspired:

Remembering the ribbon raid at Thanksgiving, and knowing we would be hosting Christmas, I decided to make something to label wine glasses this time. I didnt have the desire to make something as fancy as Tamara did at Etceroize, and wanted to make them for free (stuff I already owned).

I had come across a package of red/white/green "chenille stems" aka "pipe cleaners" when I was unpacking Christmas stuff. I had bought them for another project years ago but didn't use them. I thought cutting tags or other die cuts out with my Cricut, but I wanted this project to be even easier than that. Having just recently organized my Christmas gift wrap similarly to how I did my generic gift wrap I remembered some little card gift tags on strings mixed in with the peel and stick gift tags.

So I had the general idea in mind and got to work:

I measured the pipe cleaner and found about 1/2 is perfect for my wine glasses. cut them all in half.

I twisted the pipe cleaner around the stems and then removed them.

I tried hole-punching the tag hole bigger so it can be strung directly onto the pipe cleaner but didn't like how it looked, and it started ripping. So instead, I wound the string (that was already on the tag) around the end of the pipe cleaner a bunch of times, so it only dangled down a bit.

Then, to hold the string in place better, i folded the tip of the pipe cleaner back on itself over the string.

There were about 6 different gift tag designs in the set. While winding the pipe cleaners I found that the red white and green colors were actually 3 smaller pipecleaners twisted together, so I untwisted them to make even more design combinations. People could have written their name on the back of the tags, but this made theme easier, and re-usable.

I made 4 of each tag design, a tri-colored one and one of each color. I left one on a glass stem and put the rest inside the glass for display, so people can choose the tag they like and put it on their either wine or champange glass.

I very much enjoyed my snow man on white stem with my martinelli's sparkling cider, and made it easy to spot my glass, even from across the room.

Not a lot of people drank wine or champagne or sparkling cider at our gathering, but these were so easy and cheap to make, that I wasn't disappointed more of them didn't get used, I can pack them away and use them again next year!

this project could also be done with gift wrapping ribbon / store bought or home made tags also, if you don't have pipe cleaners. Lke Tammy at The Sweet Spot made with her new craft toy

Cost of this project: for me: $FREEif starting with none of the supplies: about $2 The gift tags came from the Dollar Tree a few years ago.I estimate the pipe cleaners were about $1 / package also. Time: maybe 30 minutes, not much time at all.

Friday, December 17, 2010

wash blanket pile from when we dog-sat... pack up un-used christmas decor, unpack bags from the christmas goody making party... put away clean dishes... clear off counter... clear off door-side dresser for nativity scene... unpack suitcase from when we thought we might spend the night in town... another bag from goody making party, clean out punch cooler... clear off and pretty up couch...

off to start some laundry (so i can wash those blankets)

i will check back later today!Ok\

EDITED 10/18/10So, I was wrong. After starting laundry, putting away clean dishes and filling up the drying racks with newly cleaned dishes, and about half clearing the counter, I got sick. Its crazy, like I'm getting morning sickness again. I know some women have it all through the pregnancy, but mine went away for almost an entire trimester. Grr. So I was entirely unproductive most of my day. Well except for beating my high scores on several facebook games and the quality time with my comforter and pillows.Oh well.

I did end my day well, was feeling better around 6 and went to dinner and a movie with my hubby and his parents. Very much enjoyed the movie despite Braxton Hick's starring role.

Today is a new day. I got outta bed earlier than usual, 10 something. And already organized my christmas gift wrap, and made a shopping list. Then my headache came back and I'm in bed again. This shouldn't last long, I've got a todo list todo.

EDITED 10/19/10Ok so again not long after posting this yesterday, I got to feeling icky and went to bed for a bit, then we had a wake to go to and some Christmas shopping to do.

Today wasnt much more productive. Got up way earlier than usual to take my mommy out to breakfast, then did a little shopping, by the time we got home, I was dirt tired and took an extra long nap. But after that, I have unpacked some of those bags, did most of the dishes (they will never be done!) Finished with some Christmas goodies, put some laundry away.

Before bed tonight, I will FINISH the people Christmas goodies, start the dog Christmas goodies, finish putting away laundry and wrap the like 5 gifts sitting ready to wrap.

will update when done.

EDITED: 12/20/10last night, i finished completely the people christmas goodies, didnt start the dog goodies as i was getting bunches of contractions, i did put all the laundry away. The dishes have been done for the most part each day lately, so the dish drying rack can be checked off the list, even though its full again. I got up an hour ago and wrapped all the gifts that were wrappable.

so this list is taking me days, thats ok, as long as i am productive as much as i feel i can be, been getting naseaus a lot lately, Im ok with that.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.i dont watch tv. i dvr Brothers and Sisters but havent seen them in over a month, eventually i will watch them all. we dont have cable hooked up in our loft yet, only in the home theater and we havent been using it except for sporting events lately, it takes a bit to heat it up in there.I was addicted to LOST though. like Lostepidia adicted.

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without: my phone. whenever i do, (on accident) i realize how much i am addicted to it. I have the motorola Cliq and its super great, its actually over a year old, there was a time when i was getting new phones every 6-9 months or less, when i was phone spoiled working for the Mob.

All i want for Christmas this year is a new phone though. I dont get great signal in our loft and since it attempted suicide by gravity down from the attic earlier this month, sometimes, the bottom 1/3 of the screen doesnt respond to touch.Santa is waiting for some money to come in or Christmas would have come earlier for me.

and because i will probably be pretty busy tomorrow,

Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.

well i wouldnt call it a celebrity crush, more like a character crush. i dont really know much about Naveen Andrews the person, but I do have a crush on (and miss much) Sayid Jarrah the character on LOST. Both his real life accent and Sayid's accent are both crazy sexy though!

Sayid was a torturer in the Iraqi republican guard and has to use some of his skills on the Island of LOST but when falling in love and losing his love, we see a much sexier side of him. ahhh.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

For years we have been getting together to watch the annual holiday parade downtown, this year it was canceld, big bummer! Aunt Sarah had the idea to get together to make Christmas Goodies instead.

The party was a huge success.

Everyone brought ingredients and supplies to make a recipe or 2 and we all went home with trays and trays of super festive goodies.

I made these Snowball cookies. Cuzzy Jenny informed me they are also called "Sandies" (I didnt think sandies were coated in powdered sugar) I informed her it is winter, so therefore theyre called Snowballs, in the summer, at the beach, she can call them Sandies.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add remainingingredients, mixing to combine. Use a teaspoonful of dough and roll into small ball. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and roll in confectioners' sugar.

I followed the recipe for the ingredients but I stopped reading the recipeafter that. Sister-in-law Rachel and I decided to add more sugar, about 1/3 a cup because dough didnt taste sweet enough. Also mine turned out larger and not as round because I used a #40disher (my new favorite kitchen tool) to scoop the balls out on to the cookiesheet rather than rolling in my hands. Hers were prettier.

Directions:Drain cherries well and pat dry. (we did this while the dough was chilling) Beat butter, coconut, icing sugar, almond flavoring and milk or water with mixer.Chill for a bit in the fridge.Using a teaspoon, take portions of dough and wrap around a cherry. Roll in graham cracker crumbs.I like to place the balls in little decorative paper cups. (this is a super perfect idea! mine are in mini muffin cup size)This recipe can be made ahead and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. (i dont think theyd last that long)Very yummy.Very messy on the hands. (we learned to eat one all in one big bite)

I intended on buying butter, but forgot, so I used I Can't Believe Its Not Butter. And I COULD believe it WASN'T butter because the dough didnt harden very well, so I recommend using actual butter. They were still tasty though!

One of the commenters on her blog post suggested chocolate cookie crumbs rather than regular graham crackers, and I prefer chocolate, so I went with that idea and had my 4 yr old newphew crush up (toss around a ziplock freezer baggie of) chocolate grahams. for a double recipe he crushed up a full brick (1/3 of the box) + about half of another brick and we had some leftover crumbs.

Aunt Sally did the cherry wrapping, and found it was easier to work with the dough when it was cold, and her warm hands didnt help, making it difficult to work with (probably harder having used imitation butter) so after re-chilling the dough and chilling the cherries, she used a #40 disher to scoop the dough, squished a hole in the middle, added the cherry and covered the cherry. plopped the ball into the cookie crumbs. my picture:

Oreornaments:

Aunt Sally had the right idea to make semi-homemade goodies after seeing the idea in a magazine.

She also made some with the chocolate fudge covered Oreos with white icing.

We found when working with 2 colors of icing, let the first color set a few moments before adding the 2nd color to prevent them from melding together. Also for some designs, she practiced the shapes on wax paper first.

and actually found an article about a very similar idea, only it includes how to coat the Oreos in chocolate yourself, and other super great goody ideas!

Being as smart as she is, Cuzzy Sabrina had brought some leftover jumbo chocolate chips she had, (just incase we found a use for them), and I had leftover Marachino Cherries, someone had the great idea to combine the 2.Chocolate Covered Cherriesthe recipe:

dunk drained and patted dry marchino cherries in melted chocolate chips, place on wax paper or into paper cups to harden.

(the Cherry Balls Recipe above called for cherries without stems, but if you're making just these, I would recommend getting them on stems for easier dunking and pretty presentation)

Jenny melted the chocolate on a makeshift double boiler (metal mixing bowl over sauce pan of boiling water). We dunked the cherries into the chocolate and out onto wax paper.

after the first batch, I remembered I had some tiny paper cups in my box of Christmasy recipe stuff, and they were the perfect size for the cherries, so for the 2nd batch the cherries were put directly into the paper cups after dunking.

here is a picture of the cherries from the first batch after moving them into the cups, not as pretty as the ones moved directy into the cups.

We really liked the look of the cherries poking through the chocolate.

we found it would have been easier to start with preroasted and skinned peanuts, roasting and peeling was the most difficult part of the recipe... placing the chunks into paper cups made it much less messy and prettier when we put a few of these babies onto the trays and in boxes and tins.

Aunt Sarah made some most decadent

Lemon Fudge

Lemon fudge combines a silky smooth white chocolate fudge with the vibrant taste of tart lemons. I think this refreshing candy has just the right combination of sweet and sour citrus.This recipe calls for lemon oil, which is a super-concentrated flavoring with a strong lemon taste. If you don’t have lemon oil, you may substitute lemon extract, but you may want to add more, to taste, to ensure that the lemon flavor is strong enough.

2. Combine the sugar and evaporated milk in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Stir continuously while the mixture comes to a boil. Once it is fully boiling, continue to cook, stirring constantly, for six minutes.

3. After six minutes, remove the pan from the heat, and quickly stir in the butter, white chocolate chips, lemon oil, lemon zest, and a few drops of yellow food coloring.

4. Stir quickly to melt the butter and white chocolate, and continue stirring until the fudge is homogenous and smooth.

5. Pour the fudge into the prepared pan. Allow it to set at room temperature for at least two hours. Once set, cut it into small squares to serve. Lemon fudge can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks.

I had picked up a bag of tiny twists pretzles when Wal-Mart didnt have the square "window" pretzles I wanted for a recipe I saw on My Computer is My Canvas

I will be making these soon:

I ended up finding the square Snyders of Hanover pretzles I wanted at Winco, so I brought the twists along for the party. Aunt Sarah had leftover white chocolate chips from her fudge, so we melted them for my neice Baylee and Sister Lenna to dunk the tiny twist pretzles in, some were sprinkled with peppermint sugar.

Not pictured we also had M&M cookies, Cherry/Strawberry cake mix cookies, and chocolate carmel fudge.

We found it very nice to put most of the items into paper cups when we made up all the trays of goodies for either ourselves or to give as gifts. Cuzzy Jenny brought some store bought candy to go with the goodies on the trays.

Overall, this was a great way to spend an afternoon with friends and family and I hope we continue the tradition even after the Parade comes back into town next year!

My brother Ben is not the only person who loves these cookies, they just got nicknamed that because whenever he would come home on leave during his 8 years in the Marine Corp, mom would make them for him.

my kid sister Lenna, who was too young to remember the military leave tradition named them "Peanut Butter Snappies"

The rest of the world knows these as Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal No Bakes (or something along those lines)

Although I make these a few times per year, and every time, I call my mom for the recipe. It amazes me how she has recipes memorized like that... Eventually, I will have this one down, or at least organized to find my notes from last time I called her.

~into the pan, measure sugar, cocoa and butter (if your butter is cold, warm it on the stove before adding everything else)

~set timer for 2 minutes~I don't pre-measure the vanilla, since its easy to measure out when it is time, I just get the spoon ready.

~you will want the peanut butter and oats ready before starting to cook the rest because its important to be quick when adding them when its time. take too long and the cookies might not set up right, or might be too crumbly.

Start cooking:

~bring butter, sugar, milk and cocoa to a rolling boil. stirring constantly, as soon as you think it could be considered "rolling" press start on the timer

~stir constantly for the 2 minutes~when the timer goes off, remove from heat, onto trivet or pot holder next to the parchment paper.

~ stir in peanut butter until its mostly melted.

~ stir in vanilla

~ stir in oats to cover them completely

~quickly scoop out cookies onto the paper, I LOVE the disher (mini ice cream scooper) for this, but 2 spoons works well too) Using the small #40 disher, this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies

when I make multiple batches (which is like 90% of the time), I dont double the recipe, I actually repeat everything multiple times, because its important to get the dough out of the pan onto the paper quickly so it can set up (if the oats cook too long, they get mushy and dont hold up, or the sugar dries out and is too crumbly) It really doesnt take much time to re-measure everything. If you do this, wash the pan between batches so you dont get burned oats in the 2nd batch)

My mom is good enough at making these she doubles it. I could probably get away with it now that I have been making these awhile, but Id rather mess up 1 batch than 2 or more batches, starting over each time is better success insurance.

Even the 3 batches I made in the same night with same ingredientes, turned out slightly different, the first, the butter was still mostly frozen, and they turned out drier (the sugar and milk cooked too long waiting for the butter to thaw then melt then boil), the 2nd, I melted the butter first, and they were perfectly shiney, the 3rd, not sure why, but they had better flavor

This night, I made 3 batches, yeilding 8 1/2 dozen (+ like 6 the hubby and I ate)

If your cookies turn out crumbly (or if they arent eaten in a few days, yeah, right), serve crumbles warm as an ice cream topper. Or with milk, like cereal.

If they turn out mushy and dont set up hard, smash into a graham cracker pie crust, top with whipped cream, serve as pie and pretend you did it on purpose.

If you have space, plan to cool the cookies away from the heat of the stove. Especially if youre baking other stuff and its hot/humid in the kitchen) Either by scooping onto wax paper on cookie sheets then moving to a cooler area of the house, or on a counter away from the stove. If the cookies dont cool quickly, the oats cook for too long, getting mushy (like oatmeal) they can be put in the fridge, but I always get the best results in a cool kitchen.

I suggest storing under a heavy lid, so you burn a few more calories getting to them. Try them and you will know why we looked forward to Ben's visits sooo much. (well that and we missed our brother)

so i have missed a few days of the challenge, oh well, it's my blog, ill do what I want.i missed:Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased. I've been doing some shopping lately, so i dont know what the last item I purchased was.Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat. I love Applebees and my kitchen counter.I'm feeling way to lazy to take/find a picture, and the counter is full of bags of goodie making ingredients anyways.

Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.i dont wear much make up, its just some basic stuff. I mentioned my make up basket in this post though.

Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in. Here we go, I'm caught up...

the town i live in is pretty big and growing, we actually live on the outskirts of town, about 7 miles from a main road, one of the last Salem addresses before hitting the next town.

from Wikipedia:Salem (pronounced /ˈseɪləm/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.

Salem had a population of 136,924 at the 2000 census, with an officially estimated population of 154,510 on July 1, 2008,[1] making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is less than an hour driving distance away from Portland. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties[4] and had a combined population of 347,214 at the 2000 census.[2] A 2008 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 383,100, the state's second largest.[5]

The city is home to Willamette University and Corban University, as well as the main city in the Salem-Keizer School District and is home to the main campus of Chemeketa Community College. Other schools include the Chemawa Indian School, and the Oregon School for the Deaf. The state of Oregon is the largest employer in the city, with Salem Hospital as the largest private employer. Transportation includes public transit from Salem-Keizer Transit, Amtrak service, and non-commercial air travel at McNary Field. Major roads include Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99E, and Oregon Route 22 which connects West Salem across the Willamette River via the Marion Street and Center Street bridges.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

(I missed yesterday, oh well I didnt really have a good answer anyway.)

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.

First some of my favorite girls will help me get ready.

Then, before we can get started, some important people must be seated: Then our amazing attendants will come in: And because its VERY important for brides to walk on flowerpetals before they get married:

Then as I have always dreamt of: My 2 big brothers will walk me down the aisle. This moment in my memory makes me tear up most times I think about it. Even before it happened. The morning of the wedding, I couldnt sleep, I laid in bed imagining the wedding and this moment made me cry like a, well bride on her wedding day. I still get choked up looking at these pictures.

2 more of my darling neices were my train carriers.

I will meet my Groom, my Love at the front for a few gushy words... Blah Blah Blah....

After the ringbearers will bring up the rings, we give them to eachother:

And because by then we couldnt wait any more, we kiss!

and then we love happily ever after... Well... not until we have cake anywaysA few more details about this dream, we re-entered the room to "His Cheeseburger" by VeggieTales. Its the most romantic song ever.

We served basic food, the highlight was over 400 hand made cupcakes made and decorated by me and my wedding fairies. Topped with a jumbo cupcake made and decorated by my great friend, owner of Pink Princess Cakes.

My Something Old New Borrowed Blue:

My Love had given me Citrine Earrings for Christmas, not very old, but aside from the veil, it was the oldest thing I wore.

Both my dress and matching necklace to the earrings were new, it was my wedding gift from my now husband.

I borrowed my mother's veil, altered slightly to add my colors.

My mom used scrap fabric from my bridesmaid's blue dress to make me a garter belt.

And I had a sixpence in my shoe, my father in law gifted it to me for good luck.

It meant a lot to me to have my entire immediate family involved in the ceremony. Family is important to both my husband and I. This is the 23 (going on 25) of us. My Parents, Siblings, Siblings' spouses, neices nephews, my Husband and I.

The wedding was held in our home theater/ shop. The weather was unpredictable that day, and we were very concerned that it would start to down pour right when I had to walk out my upstairs door and down the deck and through the building for the grand entrance. Luckily, the downpouring stopped about an hour before the wedding, so I didnt have to walk down the inside stairs: it was hard enough to walk with my brothers holding my arms, me and stairs dont like eachother much.

My Dream came true on 10-10-10 and everyday I imgine that I couldnt be happier, and everyday, I find that yesterday, I was wrong.

more wedding details can be found at my wedding blog including handmade invitations, floral, decorations and other misc stuff.

About Me

I'm a mother of 2 girls and a wife for going on 8 years. I have an Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education but I intend on continuing my education and work in lactation. I am passionate about breastfeeding. I did an internship with WIC's lactation group, and I am one of the core members of the Marion County Breastfeeding Coalition. I am a peer counselor for the Nursing Mothers Council and I would also like to be a Le Leche Leader in the future. I love planning parties!
I use some FlyLady concepts (to try to) keep me on top of my housework routines and I highly recommend it.
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